Two weeks after announcing a new public messaging system, ERCOT has issued its first Weather Watch anticipating higher electrical demand.
ERCOT, or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc., is the agency that manages the state's power grid. On Tuesday they issued the watch warning that from June 15 through June 21, due to expected higher temperatures, there is expected to be a higher demand for electricity.
"ERCOT has issued its first Weather Watch to let Texans know that we are forecasting increased demand due to the higher temperatures expected this week and into next week," said Pablo Vegas, ERCOT President and CEO. "Grid conditions are normal when we issue a Weather Watch. ERCOT continues to monitor conditions closely and will deploy all available tools to manage the grid and will continue our reliability-first approach to operations, always prioritizing grid reliability."
Last month ERCOT announced the Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS) which includes two alerts, the ERCOT Weather Watch and a Voluntary Conservation Notice.
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The Weather Watch is an advanced notification that is sent out under normal grid conditions about 3-5 days before a weather event to tell the public there may be a higher demand for electricity due to a forecasted event and that they should pay attention to changing conditions. The second part of TXANS is a Voluntary Conservation Notice which is a call to Texans to voluntarily reduce usage during peak times if it is safe to do so.
ERCOT said their supply and demand forecast shows the possibility of a new all-time peak demand record being reached later this week and that there is currently enough supply to meet that demand.
In 2022 Texans set 11 new peak demand records, ERCOT said, surpassing 80 GWs for the first time ever. The current record of 80,148 MWs was set on July 20, 2022.
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ERCOT encourages everyone to sign up for grid condition notifications through the Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS) at www.ercot.com/txans. Texans can also monitor real-time and extended grid conditions at www.ercot.com.
